FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT (C)
23rd DECEMBER 2012
THOUGHT FOR
THE DAY
He who does
not know how
to believe,
should not
know.
Antonio
Porchia
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
Drop down dew from above, you heavens,
and let the clouds rain down the Just
One; let the earth be opened and bring
forth a Saviour.
FIRST READING (Micah 5: 1-4)
The Lord says this: You, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me the one who
is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back
to the distant past, to the days of old. The
Lord is therefore going to abandon them
till the time when she who is to give birth
gives birth. Then the remnant of his
brothers will come back to the sons of
Israel. He will stand and feed his flock with
the power of the Lord, with the majesty of
the name of his God. They will live secure,
for from then on he will extend his power
to the ends of the land. He himself will be
peace.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Psalm 79)
Response: God of Hosts, bring us back:
let your face shine on us and we
shall be saved..
1 O shepherd of Israel, hear us,
Shine forth from your cherubim throne.
O Lord, rouse up your might,
O Lord, come to our help.
2
God of hosts, turn again we implore,
Look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
The vine your right hand has planted.
3. May your hand be on the man you have
chosen,
The man you have given your strength;
And we shall never forsake you again:
Give us life that we may call upon your
name.
2nd READING (Hebrews 10: 5-10)
This is what Christ said, on coming
into the world: You who wanted no
sacrifice or oblation, prepared a body
for me. You took no pleasure in
holocausts or sacrifices for sin; then I
said, just as I was commanded in the
scroll of the book, 'God, here I am! I
am coming to obey your will.' Notice
that he says first: You did not want
what the Law lays down as the things
to be offered, that is: the sacrifices,
the oblations, the holocausts and the
sacrifices for sin, and you took no
pleasure in them; and then he says:
Here I am! I am coming to obey your
will. He is abolishing the first sort to
replace it with the second. And this
will was for us to be made holy by the
offering of his body made once and
for all by Jesus Christ.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia, Alleluia! I am the handmaid of
the Lord: let what you have said be done
to me. Alleluia!
THE GOSPEL (Luke: 1: 39 - 44)
Mary set out and went as quickly as she
could to a town in the hill country of
Judah. She went into Zechariah's house and
greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as
Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child
leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry
and said, 'Of all women you are the most
blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your
womb. Why should I be honoured with a
visit from the mother of my Lord? For the
moment your greeting reached my ears, the
child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes,
blessed is she who believed that the
promise made her by the Lord would be
fulfilled.'
Mary is a perfect role model for us all.
She believed in God's promise. She
acted on God's commands. She didn't
push God into a small corner of her life
…. God was her life. "Blessed is she,"
writes Luke in today's gospel, "who
believed that the promise made her by
the Lord would be fulfilled."
COMMUNION ANTIPHON
Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear
a son; and his name will be called
Emmanuel.
Today's gospel is an invitation for us to
take God's promises to heart, to make
them real in our minds, and act on
them.
The Promise of a Lifetime
It's easy for us to take promises with a
pinch of salt. Whilst growing up, we've
learned that promises are easily made
and easily broken. We make promises
of our own with varying degrees of
commitment. In short, promises are not
always made to be kept, and our faith
in a promise is seriously undermined.
No wonder the promises we read in the
bible don't always make us jump for
joy.
Does a promise made to us by God
carry any more weight? If we were truly
convinced that God was making us a
promise then it probably would.
There’s a saying that goes, “We
question all our beliefs, except for the
ones we really believe, and those we
never think to question.” It seems that
belief is key in getting excited about a
promise. Mary obviously had no
doubts; this is illustrated in her
promptness to act on his commands.
We might not confess to doubts, but
why then do we hedge our bets. Why
do we squash God into a small corner
of our busy lives and get on with other
things.
For Expectant Mothers
Traditionally, the fourth Sunday of
Advent is a day on which we pray for
expectant mothers everywhere. We
must also remember to pray for
expectant dads, and for would-be
parents who are trying for a baby but
haven't been successful just yet.
Recommended Listening
Drama on 3: A New Cycle Of
Mystery Plays
Sunday 23 December 8.30-10.00pm
BBC Radio 3
Rev. Dr Giles Fraser introduces five
New Testament stories revisited and
set in present day pre-Christmas
London by five great dramatists.
A Festival Of Nine Lessons And
Carols
Monday 24 December 3.00-4.30pm
BBC Radio 4
A live broadcast of a Festival Of Nine
Lessons And Carols from Kings
College, Cambridge.
Midnight
4Monday
12.45am
Mass on BBC Radio
24 December 11.30pm-
Radio 4 visits the Metropolitan
Cathedral of Christ the King in
Liverpool for the first Mass of
Christmas in the company of a
congregation of nearly 2,000 people.
Happy Christmas
St. Stephen's Day
th
26 December
The old custom of giving to the poor is
reflected in our Christmas carol 'Good
King Wenceslas' who gave gifts of
bread and wine to a poor man on 'the
feast of Stephen'. In short Boxing Day
is a day of good will to those who are
not so well off as we are.
St John the Apostle
Christmas is the one time we will all go
to church and celebrate something that
happened a long time ago….. but that
something that ‘happened a very long
time ago’ is with us every day.
We go to church to celebrate the
wonderful Christmas message that
God loves us so much that he sent his
Son to be with us, to support us, to
endure with us, to share life’s struggles
and to guide us. Our challenge is to
move forward through life’s joys and
sorrows confident in God’s love. Our
challenge is to make it to next
Christmas better and stronger than we
are today.
27th December
A persistent story has it that John's
"parishioners" grew tired of his one
sermon,
which
relentlessly
emphasized: "Love one another."
Whether the story is true or not, it has
basis in John's writing. He wrote what
may be called a summary of the Bible:
"We have come to know and to believe
in the love God has for us. God is love,
and whoever remains in love remains
in God and God in him" (1 John 4:16).
American Catholic
Feast
of
the
Holy
th
Innocents December 28
"When the wise men had departed,
an angel of the Lord appeared to
Joseph in a dream and said 'Get up,
take the child and his mother, and
flee to Egypt, and remain there until
I tell you; for Herod is about to
search for the child, to destroy him.'
Please pray for all those who have
died recently.
Please also
remember
those
whose
anniversaries occur at this time:
This day has become a day on which
we remember King Herod’s massacre
of all male infants in and around
Bethlehem under the age of two in an
attempt to kill the young Christ. Today,
in commemoration we might consider
supporting
Barnardos,
NSPCC,
UNICEF, Save The Children or any
other charity designed to protect our
children.
Christine
O’Toole,
George
Kenny, Paul Simpson, Walter
Kehoe, Bridget Swallow, Bill
Hargadon, Sheila Ives, Mary
Lafford, Elizabeth Delahunt,
William
O’Farrell,
Jean
Estibeiro, Mary Judge, Flo
Brunetti, Joe Peg, Josephine
Newman,
Octavia
Jedrzejewska, Allan Westbrook
and Dorothy Burfield.
SICK LIST
Please pray for Eileen Taylor,
Geoffrey Hope, Phyllis Snuggs, Ruth
Edwards, May Frost, Fr Harry
Reynolds, Claire White, Brian
Goldsbury, Joanne Ware, Sheila
Burt, Peggy Devine, Sarah Butler,
Joshua Mills, Tanisha Chester, Jane
Hand, Dennis Cebunka, Victoria
Kane, Katherine Deasey, Eileen &
Oona Treacey, Karen Roche, Jo
Page,
Brenda
Sharp,
Eileen
McNulty, Teresa & Eric Williamson,
John
Collins,
Julien
Clarke,
Anastasia O’Connell, Peter &
Patricia Collins, Frank Whelan, Trent
& Mary Hobbs, Elliott Cable, Kim
Boulton, Baby Ellis, Mary Moody,
Evangelos Sarros, Kay & Ron
Chester, Deacon John Newman,
Ann
Lichfield,
Margaret
O’Donoghue, Hugh Burton, Bishop
Pat Lynch, Brian Gotting and Pat
Massey.
ANNIVERSARIES
May their souls, and the souls of all
the faithful departed, rest in peace.
Amen.